Lesson 3: How We Care - Me Pēhea Tātou e Tiaki

Years 4–6 pitch · Lesson 3

Years 4–6: cause, effect, who benefits

Ākonga build the chain — observed issue, likely cause, effect, who or what benefits if it changes, evidence held — then make a care commitment naming WHO, HOW OFTEN and HOW THEY WOULD KNOW.

Years 4–6 move: Cause/effect table plus an accountable commitment
Evidence it produces: A commitment with an owner, a frequency and a test of whether it worked

Same topic at the other level: Years 0–3 pitch →

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Lesson 3: How We Care - Me Pēhea Tātou e Tiaki

Learning About Kaitiakitanga and Caring Actions

Students learn about kaitiakitanga (guardianship) and explore practical ways to care for their environment, identifying problems and solutions.

Whakatūwhera - Cultural Opening

Kaitiakitanga means guardianship — the work of caring for a place so it is still healthy for the people who come after us: the land (whenua), the water (wai), and every living thing. Kaitiakitanga is a responsibility carried by mana whenua for their own rohe; ākonga learn the concept and act on it, which is not the same as holding the role. Today we will learn what kaitiakitanga asks of people, and we will practise caring for our own place.

"Tiaki i te taiao, tiaki i a tātou"

Care for the environment, care for ourselves — this is what kaitiakitanga asks of all of us.

🪶 Mātauranga Māori — handoff required (provenance of this saying). This line is printed here with no source. It has not been verified as a recorded whakataukī, and no attribution has been supplied for it — deliberately, because inventing one would be worse than leaving the gap visible. Authority item A-P12-1: kaiako Māori or kaumātua to confirm a citable source, or to rule that it is a composed classroom line and should be framed as such. Until then, do not present it to ākonga as a traditional saying.

Ngā Whāinga Ako - Learning Intentions

Students Will Learn

What kaitiakitanga means
How to identify problems in their environment
Ways to care for their place
That we all have a responsibility to care

Students Will Demonstrate

A cause→effect→who-benefits chain written out for at least one problem they found in their own place
A cause that is a cause, not a restatement of the problem — "the bin is round the corner", not "people drop rubbish"
A care commitment that names WHO will do it, HOW OFTEN, and HOW WE WOULD KNOW it helped
One sentence saying who benefits from that action, and who has to do the work

🎬 Kaiako background — not for tamariki

Turning the Tide | Episode 2: Mātauranga-Led Restoration · RNZ · 12 min 10 s. An RNZ documentary episode made for an adult audience. Watch it before the lesson for the restoration knowledge, then teach from it in your own words.

Before the lesson: choose ONE concrete restoration action you can retell in about a minute — where it happened, who did it, what changed.
With tamariki: do not screen it. Twelve minutes of adult documentary is not the lesson — tell the one action, then run the borrowed-repair test below.

Borrowed Repair: Would It Work Here? (15 mins)

Years 4–6 pitch. An action that fixed one place will not automatically fix another. Testing a borrowed repair against their own problem forces ākonga to separate the problem from its cause, because a repair aimed at the effect always fails the test. Run this in place of the brainstorm in Activity 3 below.

What kaiako does: Retell the one restoration action you picked from the RNZ episode above — where it happened, who did it, what changed — in about a minute, in your own words. Do not play the episode.

What ākonga do: In groups, take one problem they spotted outside and fill four boxes:

The problem — what you actually saw.
The cause — why it keeps happening here. A cause, not the problem said again: "the bin is round the corner", not "people drop rubbish".
The borrowed action — the one the kaiako described.
The verdict — would it fix our cause? Yes, no, or only partly — and one sentence saying why.

Share it (5 mins): Each group reads its verdict sentence. Sort the sentences on the board into two columns — fixes the cause and only tidies the effect. A "no" with a good reason is a better answer than a "yes" with none.

How you would know it worked: Box 2 holds a cause and not a restatement, and the verdict sentence refers back to box 2 rather than to the action. A group that says yes to every action has not tested anything — hand them an action that plainly does not fit their cause and ask again.

Differentiation:

Support: Give the group the cause and ask only for the verdict. Naming causes is the harder half.
Extension: Ask the group to change the borrowed action so that it does fit their cause, then say what they changed and why.
Physical needs / access: The problem can come from a photo or a window view; the chain works the same.

Use it here

📄 My Care Commitment — Tōku Kupu Tiaki

Use after the cause-and-effect table. The commitment must name WHO will do it, HOW OFTEN, and HOW WE WOULD KNOW it helped — a promise without those three is not yet a commitment.

Open the My Care Commitment — Tōku Kupu Tiaki →

Ngā Mahi - Lesson Activities (45-60 minutes)

1. What is Kaitiakitanga? (10 mins)

Cultural Protocol: Begin with "Kia ora koutou." Explain that kaitiakitanga is a special responsibility we all have to care for our place.

Discussion: Ask students: "What does it mean to care for something? Who takes care of you? How do you take care of pets or plants?"

Kaitiakitanga Means:

Kaitiaki: Guardian or caretaker
Tiaki: To care for, to protect
Manaaki: To look after, to support
Responsibility: It's our job to care

Differentiation:

Support: Use simple examples: "We care for our classroom, we care for our pets"
Extension: Students explain why caring for the environment matters for future generations
Inclusive: Connect to students' own experiences of caring and being cared for

2. Looking for Problems (15 mins)

Years 4–6 pitch. Years 4–6 can separate a problem from its cause. For each problem spotted, ākonga write a cause→effect→who-benefits chain. Litter is the effect; the cause is a missing bin, a windy corner, or a habit — and the repair differs for each. A problem list without causes produces actions that do not work.

Observation: Take students outside or look at photos. Ask: "What needs our help? What could be better?"

Things That Might Need Care:

Litter or rubbish (paru)
Plants that need water (wai)
Areas that need cleaning
Places where animals need help
Spaces that could be more beautiful

Positive Framing: Focus on "How can we help?" rather than just problems. Emphasise that we can make a difference.

Differentiation:

Support: Use picture cards showing "needs help" vs "looks good". Work in pairs.
Extension: Students identify specific problems and suggest solutions.
Physical Needs: Can observe from classroom window or use photos/videos.

3. How Can We Care? (15 mins)

Brainstorming: As a class, brainstorm ways to care for our place.

Caring Actions:

Pick up litter: Keep our place clean
Water plants: Help plants grow
Plant seeds: Grow new plants
Feed birds: Help animals
Recycle: Use things again
Be gentle: Don't hurt living things

Connection Activity:

Ask: "Which of these can we do at school? Which can we do at home? What else can we do to be kaitiaki?"

Differentiation:

Support: Use picture cards showing caring actions. Students can point to what they can do.
Extension: Students create a detailed plan for one caring action.
Inclusive: All students can participate in some caring action, adapted to their abilities.

4. Creating Our Kaitiaki Promise (10-15 mins)

Years 4–6 pitch. A promise this age can keep is specific and owned. Each promise must name WHO does it, HOW OFTEN, and HOW THEY WOULD KNOW it worked. 'Look after our place' fails all three tests; 'our group checks the stream edge every Friday and counts the rubbish' passes them.

Creative Project: Students create a kaitiaki promise poster showing how they will care for their place.

Promise Options:

Drawing: Draw themselves doing a caring action
Writing: Write "I promise to..." statements
Poster: Create a colourful poster with their promise
Collage: Use pictures and words

Example Promises:

"I promise to pick up litter" / "Ka tiaki ahau i te taiao" (I will care for the environment)

Differentiation:

Support: Provide sentence starters: "I promise to..." Use templates.
Extension: Write detailed promises with multiple actions.
Creative: Allow various formats - posters, cards, drawings with captions.

Aromatawai - Assessment & Next Steps

Formative Assessment

Cause, not restatement: read one chain aloud. If the "cause" is the problem said again in different words, it is not yet a cause — send it back with "why is that happening here?"
Effect named: does the chain say what the problem does to a living thing, a person, or the place itself?
Who benefits: can they name someone other than themselves?
Commitment is accountable: mark it against the three tests — WHO / HOW OFTEN / HOW WE WOULD KNOW. All three present = ready; any missing = not yet a commitment.
Where to look next: ākonga stuck on cause → give them the sentence frame "This happens here because ___, and it would happen less if ___." Ākonga whose commitment has no measure → ask "what would you count next term to find out?"

Homework & Extension

Home Care: Do one caring action at home - pick up litter, water a plant
Whānau Share: Show family your kaitiaki promise and explain it
Observation: Look around your home - what needs care?
Practice: Practise saying "kaitiaki" (guardian), "tiaki" (to care)

Whakaaro - Reflection

Today we learned about kaitiakitanga - being guardians who care for our place. We all have a responsibility to look after our environment. When we care for our place, we care for ourselves and future generations. Next time, we will put our learning into action and actually do caring things for our place.

"Tiaki i te taiao, tiaki i a tātou" - When we care for the environment, we care for ourselves.

🪶 Mātauranga Māori — handoff required (provenance of this saying). Same line as the Cultural Opening above: no source has been established for it, and none has been invented. Authority item A-P12-1.

Curriculum alignment

Te Mātaiaho (2025) · Social Sciences · Phase 2 (Years 4–6) · Geography (Knowledge): “People interact with and use places, resources, and environments for personal, social, cultural, and economic reasons.”
NZC (2007) · Social Studies · Level 2: “Understand how places influence people and people influence places.”